


One Morning, Unlike Others

by driftingthroughthevoid



Category: Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 11:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16764658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driftingthroughthevoid/pseuds/driftingthroughthevoid
Summary: Daniel decides to go jogging. Armand is perplexed.





	One Morning, Unlike Others

**Author's Note:**

> warm-up drabble, nothing more. i just love these two saps and need to get into the habit of actually posting.

When Armand rose, he immediately knew Daniel was not in the house above. His beat-up sneakers, which would only be replaced once they had holes in them, were not in the entryway. Likewise, the worn and shapeless hoodie that the boy wore almost constantly in these cold Northern climes was not on the hook, which it rarely was anyway. With a glance, the vampire confirmed that it was not strewn over any of the furniture or dropped on the floor, which was much more typical.

However, he had known that his Daniel was not home before he even climbed the steps out of the dilapidated cellar, before turning the key in the ancient lock shuttering the space, and before coming around the corner to enter the house proper. He _felt_ it. And with that sense came with it an immediate anxiety that still surprised Armand.

Daniel begun 'running off' as of late. Sometimes, he'd stay gone a night or two from where he'd taken up residence, "to clear my head" as he said. However, after waiting patiently for over a week in Reno, Armand had had to go and find the boy, drinking himself under a table in the next city over and slurring curses at him as he half-carried him out.

That was the first of several times now that Daniel had left, invariably seeking self-destruction. Armand couldn't tell if the boy left intending to do so, but it was always where he ended up once the vampire determined that enough was enough.

Of course, he could always sense where the boy was, whether or not he was at home. Home, with his journals and his cigarettes, and the never-ending shift between soft lavender and hard indigo eyes always gazing at Armand.

Now, idly rubbing at his sternum as if he could brush off the curl of trepidation beneath, Armand cast his mind out towards Daniel; and was mildly surprised to find the boy only a block away from their little domicile, apparently jogging.

A small crease appeared in his mask-like face, and he felt around for a reason. Was he being pursued? No, not that Armand could tell. A quick peek into Daniel's thoughts confirmed as much. There was only the noise of the music being pumped into his ears by the clever little buds, a vague humming of exertion, and the thought _Shit, he's prolly up, gotta get home..._

Armand was vaguely pleased by that, and charmed. When Daniel was on the upswing of his 'moods', the vampire felt a sense of domesticity that he had rarely felt in his centuries. Of course, taking care of his own hunger and the resulting corpse...crawling out of bed with the lightening of the sky to seek refuge in his coffin...letting Daniel believe he slept somewhere on the outskirts of town instead of under their own house... was hardly domestic.

But all that could be pushed aside and ignored.

Armand rather preferred to ignore it, if you asked him. Much better, the sound of the coffeemaker as he carefully scooped the grounds into the filter and filled it with water, just how Daniel had told him. The smell of shampoo and soap as he walked past the open bathroom towards the bedroom. The feeling of the soft, machine-spun sheets and pillows against his hard white skin, still scented with the indescribable smell of his mortal. No death here.

Armand glanced up from where his face was half-buried in the pillow to the nightstand, where an ashtray was sitting with half a dozen orange cigarette butts mashed out in it. Next to that, an empty bottle of gleaming green glass. Harsh, these items, seen from the soft unending landscape of the bed. 

Before he could contemplate further, the front door opened and a breath of chill air blew into the house along with Daniel. Armand was up and in the doorway as the blonde peeled out of his hoodie and discarded it on a chair. "Oh, mornin' boss. Didn't mean to stay out this late..."

Armand brushed off the apology. "No matter, Daniel. What were you running from?"

The blonde looked up from where he was toeing off his old sneakers, hand on the doorknob for balance. "Huh?" His eyes were the soft lavender, innocently confused and then darkening faintly as the skin around them crinkled in laughter. "Oh, no, I was just jogging."

The vampire had a vague notion of 'jogging' from the pop culture he consumed like food, but he cocked his head. "Why?"

Daniel shrugged, moving past Armand and into the kitchenette towards the coffeemaker. He cupped his hands around the hot glass of the coffeepot, careful not to touch, and made a noise of pleasure before responding. "I dunno. I felt kind of lazy and...flabby," he seemed to admit to the vampire. Armand's brow creased once more and the vampire followed after his mortal, making Daniel jump and shiver when those cold white hands slithered under his shirt to touch bare skin.

" 'Flabby'?" Armand repeated, feeling at the flesh of Daniel's stomach. He felt only warmth and the flex of muscle under the skin as Daniel shivered, the faint gasp as his hands slid upwards for a moment and the tension of anticipation as Armand held his hands there.

"Yeah, you know...Not fat but. I dunno," Daniel admitted. "I'm gonna get a beer gut."

Behind him, Armand pursed his lips and thought on that, trying to fit it into the mesh that was Daniel's 'moods' and his penchant for self-destruction. Perhaps he was breaking from it, and without outside interference. The hope sprung up like a flower between the cracks of hardened knowledge in Armand's heart, and he probed gently. "You're worried about being less attractive?"

"No," Daniel quickly replied, then frowned as he pulled out a mug to start fixing his evening coffee. "I mean, maybe. I dunno."

"You'll always be beautiful to me," Armand countered, slipping out from behind Daniel in order to perch on the countertop and observe him more closely. "Even when you didn't shave for a month, you were beautiful to me."

"You bitched about my 'fully formed hormonal capabilities' until I shaved, boss."

"The whiskers itched when I kissed you," Armand countered, delighting in the rueful smile Daniel fixed him with over his coffee before taking a sip. He was in a brighter mood today than he had been in a month, which the vampire took as a very good sign.

"Anyway, I'm not planning on becoming a fitness junkie or a 'roided up jerk. I just thought it would be good, y'know?" Daniel had put the milk away and moved in close, causing Armand to part his legs to let his mortal in between them. 

"Anything that makes you happy," the vampire replied, quieter now that they were in each others' space. He took a moment just to look at his Daniel, admiring the way the yellow, electric light caught in his mussed blonde hair and his long eyelashes shaded his eyes. "Though," the vampire continued, sliding his legs around Daniel's waist to pull him in, "I can think of vastly more entertaining ways to exercise."

"Bo-oss," Daniel groaned in exasperation, taking another hearty drink and setting the mug down rather more heavily than he should. Then his warm lips were on Armand's, and he tasted like coffee and chapstick and the faintest hint of cigarette, and everything was as it should be.


End file.
